Good books about CS?

That spec looks like Software Engineering more than Computer Science (unlike some other GCSE/A-level courses). At this level it's mostly horse manure except for a few bright spots with logic and asymptotic analysis.

Suggestion: Buy a Cambridge-approved textbook for the course and download Haskell + buy Cormen's Introduction to Algorithms for your own study.

I actually wanted to do ICT, but here it's not available for private candidates, that's why I chose Computer Studies.

Is this what you mean by Haskell?

And this is the book, right?

Thanks for the suggestions.

Correct both times. I can see that you're a formidable Googler

Example (inefficient) program to get up and running:

main = print results
where
results = fibonacci series
where
series = [1 .. 10]

fib 0 = 0
fib 1 = 1
fib n = (fib (n-1)) + (fib (n-2))

fibonacci [ ] = []
fibonacci (a:b) = (fib a)fibonacci b)


Lol, thanks.

Does this Haskell thing come with some introduction or something? It does look quite difficult to me. Are you sure this stuff is for beginners? Because the only programming languages I've been exposed to so far are HTML and CSS, by the help of Firefox's amazing add-on, Firebug.

If Haskell looks too complicated for the moment, possibly consider doing some Java with Eclipse. Its structure is similar to Javascript.

What about C or C++? Aren't they good for beginners?

What other things I can do to help me prepare for uni from now?

I hope I'm not bothering you with my questions.

It's almost always worth answering questions.

Yes, C++ is good too (similar to Java). Code::Blocks is the tool for that. Learning to program in at least language and reading that book plus anything else that seems interesting (online or onprint) is ample preparation for university.

#include <cstdio> //C standard input output tools

int main()
{
int num; //"num" is an integer

for (num=1; num<=10; ++num) //start "num" at 1 and increase it (1<=num<=10)
{
printf("%d\n",num); //for each value write num in %decimal and go to a \new line
}
}


I'm afraid I didn't understand what you meant by that. (I mean the bold bit)

So you suggest that I learn one of (Java/C++/Haskell) as preparation for uni, right?

Is it worth it reading any of the books in the general reading list for CS from unis such as Oxford and Cambridge, even if I may not end up studying there?

Sorry, Code::Blocks is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment, fancy code editor) for C++ just like Eclipse is for Java. It's available here (you'll want the one with a compiler included).

That's a perfectly good strategy, although I'll warn you that Cambridge's reading list is somewhat archaic (avoid "Computer Science: A Modern Introduction").

There are some tutorials on C++ at http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial.html

Don't worry about not being able to do ICT, biggest waste of a subject ever and I SEVERELY regret taking it in place of physics, it has that little to do with computer science. I'll be lucky to scrape a B in it due to my lack of motivation in the coursework section which was just so ridiculous.

Good luck with the programming!

That spec looks like Software Engineering more than Computer Science (unlike some other GCSE/A-level courses). At this level it's mostly horse manure except for a few bright spots with logic and asymptotic analysis.

Suggestion: Buy a Cambridge-approved textbook for the course and download Haskell + buy Cormen's Introduction to Algorithms for your own study.

Do you really think Haskell is a good first language to learn? I wouldn't even worry with algorithms either at this point, well not to the extend in which you require a book for it. She should start writing code, it doesn't have to be as efficient as possible; that can be learnt later.

I believe learning Python or something similar will serve you well for now. Once you get some programming knowledge behind you then branch out to more complicated languages and topics.

I want titles of some good books on computer science at a beginner level for me to read during my study for IGCSEs and A Levels so that I can have a really good background of what I'll be studying at uni.

One of the biggest turn-offs that I see for new programmers is that their toil is without point (e.g. who wants a times-table printer?);

as Haskell is at first glance just a neat way of writing out recurrence relations even a beginner can do pretty fancy stuff without knowing much about the language

(quicksort is about 4 lines long, compared to about 30 in C++ and 40 in Python).

What programs would you want new programmers to be writing? (I have an ulterior motive in my question: I am trying to write an introductory programming book, aimed as getting more people interested in programming, and hence in Computer Science.) There is quite a lot that needs to be explained before you can get onto fun programs -- regardless of the language.

The version of quicksort I've got here, using Scala, is under 20 lines. I can believe it's longer in C++ and Python, though -- but I wouldn't want to program in those languages.

What programs would you want new programmers to be writing? (I have an ulterior motive in my question: I am trying to write an introductory programming book, aimed as getting more people interested in programming, and hence in Computer Science.) There is quite a lot that needs to be explained before you can get onto fun programs -- regardless of the language.



I'm a big fan of Haskell. However, my experience is that most people find it harder than imperative languages.



The version of quicksort I've got here, using Scala, is under 20 lines. I can believe it's longer in C++ and Python, though -- but I wouldn't want to program in those languages.